Julia’s Bakery & Cafe

I have some family in Tacoma and just went to visit them. They took me to this bakery and I loved it! Everyone was so nice and the bread was soooo good! They even sell tamales year round witch is awesome cuz my family only makes them during Christmas.

I visit friends from college about once a year down here and go to lake fair. We always stop here on the way to lake fair. You can’t go wrong with their donuts and they have a pretty big selection of different breads that I have never tried. The tamales are really good. The lady that runs it is always really nice and let’s us try new samples of breads. The pricing is normal. For us it’s a convenient location and turned into a tradition stopping for the donuts and tamales. You can tell it’s a family owned small business, which where I live, I always make it a habit to support local small businesses. So 2 thumbs up for me.

I went in to purchase some tamales for Christmas. I paid almost $ 50 for 2-​dozen tamales. When I brought the tamales home they didn’t seem very fresh and were kind of dry like they had been frozen for awhile. I felt they had more masa than it should have had compared to the filling. I used to live in LA and I am used to them being freshly made. Especially coming from a bakery I had higher expectations. I think if I need tamales I will try another place in town.

I like her tamales. Bring them home, take them out of the foil, and pop them in a steamer for about ½ hour… perfection. Plus my husband loves Marta and her husband as they are all from Guatemala. I will say that when I first went in on my own, she only had chicken and the Jalapeño/​cheese kind. Then my husband followed me in, and I pointed out the painting of Antigua, and they started to chat, suddenly there were pork tamales available. Marta is a from Guate, but her pastries are more Mexican. Anyway, a real tamale IS mostly masa (to the person who posted above). We make a point of going there at least once a month.

Great bread. Finally some real pan dulce in washington. Baked fresh every morning. They do tend to run out some weekends so get there early.

If I could give a lower score I would! HORRIBLE service! Came in to place an order for a couple of dozen donuts at 0730 and the guy at the counter was on the phone talking in spanish and blatently looking at me and continued to talk on the phone as I sat standing there at the counter ready to order. I stood there for 10 minutes, no joke, giving him much the benifit of the doubt. THEN as if it couldn’t get worse, he ducks down below the counter! I thought, oh he is going to take my order finally and NOPE, he continues to talk on the phone! I don’t recomend this place to anyone! When I went in, there were all these pinnatas hanging from the roof over a couple of truckstop type tables and a wall of mexican foods/​items on the right wall and some bunch of dusty bagged up spanish themed items hanging behind the counter. To the left, they had some display cases of some unusual looking pastry items… don’t think they are american but probably a version of a mexican pastry. In the back of the store was a case where the typical «Donuts» were located along with slices of what looked like cake or cheesecake. The typical donut pastry selection was not very big. Some long johns and apple fritters and plain or chocolate glazed donuts, but thats about it. It was really frustrating as there are not alot of donut shops near my work and I was suppost to bring some in for work and this guy running the shop was of no help. There was another guy running around baking the donuts and I know he saw me standing there in front of the counter and the guy on the phone but he too ignored me. I doubt they cared that I left without buying anything but I was to be sure to let everyone know the horrible service this small buisness gave. I’m not one to complain EVER but this was rediculous!

I thought I finally found somewhere to get tasty tamales around here. Wrong! The flavor is there but they are way more generous with the masa than they are with the meat. Their tres leches cake is pretty delish, but pricey! Skip their bakery items. they may look good & they will always tell you they were baked fresh «today» but I have a hard time believing them as the few times I caved they were hard & crumbly. Disappointing, for sure.